Tuesday

Many hospitals have had patient support assistants for decades, but many people don't even know they exist.

After spending several days in separate rooms at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, Patti and Jim Wilcox are grateful to be together in Room 409, wearing identical purple hospital gowns.

Jim, 75, of the West Side, is especially happy to be with his wife, who suffers from dementia and has a history of cancer and stroke. Throughout 36 years of marriage, the two have always been better together.

Patti, 62, doesn’t talk much anymore, but she smiles at her husband when he mentions her name from a hospital bed across the room.

Emma Ayers, 22, carefully watches Patti from a chair in the corner of the room. A hospital technician and patient-support assistant at Doctors, she has spent the past few weeks, on and off, acting as a companion to the couple — helping Patti wash up and get dressed in the morning, assisting them as they walk around the hospital's fourth floor, and listening to Jim tell stories.

When Patti arrived at Doctors more than a month ago, Jim would visit every day and worry. He started to get extreme headaches and felt an intense pain behind his right eye. So Jim joined his wife in the hospital, hoping to find out what was wrong.

At first, no available room had two beds, but a few weeks ago, Room 409 opened up.

“It’s really special to see Patti blossom since they were put in the same room,” Ayers said.

Many hospitals have had patient support assistants for decades, but many people don't even know they exist.

Although the workers' job title has changed over the years — they're also sometimes called patient companions — their roles haven't. PSAs act as advocates, reassuring patients that they're safe, making sure they understand any medical procedures being done, and serving as a safety net for patients' families.

“Their eyes are on the patient at all times to keep the environment safe, the patient safe and to listen,” said Elizabeth Steger, chief nursing officer at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital.

Listening is a critical component of becoming a patient advocate, said Jonel Campbell, a certified PSA and emergency medical technician at Riverside.

“Patients will call you out, and they can determine whether or not you’re being genuine,” Campbell said. “My ultimate goal is to be that friend and extra person that gives them the feeling that someone is looking out for them.”

'Not a casserole illness'

Campbell believes that the job of a PSA is to put patients and caretakers on an even playing field, where both parties are treated with respect and kindness.

Still, it can be difficult. In addition to being a friendly face, PSAs have to be able to help de-escalate any situation, which can be particularly challenging with patients who have a severe mental illness or are suicidal, Steger said.

So how do you train someone to be prepared for anything?

OhioHealth provides two levels of training for patient support assistants: widespread instruction for everyone, and training that is more specialized for PSAs who deal with high-risk patients, said Dr. Megan Schabbing, system medical director for psychiatric emergency services at Riverside.

PSAs stationed in the emergency department or the inpatient psychiatric unit specifically learn how to speak in ways that de-escalate situations in which a patient might talk about feeling suicidal, threaten to hurt others, refuse medical care or suddenly become violent.

Mental illness "is not a casserole illness," said Terry Russell, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Ohio, meaning that people don't prepare food for friends suffering from mental illness. "People with mental illness lose the concept of friends and families.”

That's why having workers such as PSAs is so valuable, he said.

Russell would like to see the use of more paraprofessionals — people who still need training but have an understanding of mental illness — in hospitals and elsewhere.

"There’s no doubt that talk therapy is certainly successful," he said. "But we’ve also recognized that there are other treatments like this, peer support, or volunteer programs that have an impact as well.”

Campbell said that just giving families a respite can make a tremendous difference.

"They need that break, and I want to be able to give them that chance to go get coffee, lunch or sleep," she said.

Campbell still remembers the gratitude of an older couple whom she helped nearly 15 years ago. The husband and wife duo split day and night shifts taking care of their paraplegic adult son. When he was admitted to the hospital overnight, Campbell finally convinced them that it was OK to go home and sleep.

"The husband was so ecstatic he got to spend a night sleeping in the same bed with his wife," she said.

"That's the story that holds the cake."

In Room 409 at Doctors Hospital, Ayers helped Patti get more comfortable in bed.

"Really," Jim said, "to have someone taking care of Patti is the most I could ask for."

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